Posted by: Reena Jana on March 17, 2008

Carol Coletta, the dynamic chief executive of CEOs for Cities, a Chicago-based nonprofit that brings together mayors of blighted urban areas (Detroit and Buffalo, for example) and executives to brainstorm ideas for boosting local economies, and I spoke recently about a cool project her organization is working on with Steelcase.

Steelcase, of course, is famous for furnishing the world’s offices and cubicles, but it also possesses a vast repository of knowledge on the design of efficient and worker-friendly spaces. It’s now using that knowhow to help hard-pressed cities think through problems. Carol and CEOs for Cities just teamed up with the company to launch a new initiative called “Places of Innovation,” which will open, for CEOS for Cities, Steelcase’s 10-year archives that detail how top companies such as Google design campuses that become thriving employee communities. The aim is for CEOs for Cities to shape a series of recommendations on how to design inviting public spaces in cities.

Examples, Carol says, are sure to include new or renovated parks and libraries with meeting areas that encourage people to gather and share conversations. Steelcase benefits, too, hoping to use the new thinking on cities for further improvement in its office and corporate campus designs as well.

Reader Comments

Tim Penning, APR

March 20, 2008 8:26 AM

This is a great example of social branding. It shows that corporations can profit when they engage in community relations as well as consumer relations. If more CEOs grasp that public relations is a broad, management function, they'll see more success from efforts like this. I say more on my local blog about PR in Steelcase's hometown:

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